8 questioned by cops for Hyderabad blasts

HYDERABAD: Special police teams on Sunday questioned at least eight people in the Dilsukhnagar twin blasts case and the leads are pointing towards the involvement of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). These included Mohammed Rayeesuddin, a close associate of controversial cleric Maulana Mohammed Naseeruddin's son Raziuddin Naser, an accused in terror cases across the country.

A police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Naser is known to have close links with Syed Maqbool, an alleged Indian Mujahideen operative currently in Tihar Jail, and who in turn has links with slain LeT terrorist Azam Hour. All eight were questioned after inputs provided by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the counter-intelligence cell of the state police.

The police are also searching for two Pune blast accused, who, according to the Maharashtra ATS, were present in the city a few days before the Dilsukhnagar blasts. Maharashtra ATS sleuths gave a detailed briefing on the two Indian Mujahideen (IM) activists wanted in the Pune blasts. These are Asadullah Akhtar alias Tabrez, and Waqas alias Ahmed. The ATS also said that another accused of Pune blasts, Tahaseen Akhtar alias Raju Bhai, too, helped the Asadullah and Waqas in the past in reconnoitering Hyderabad.

Mumbai sleuths have shown the CCTV footage and photographs of these suspects, their personal details and movements in the recent past to their AP counterparts. According to sources, the duo know city very well and they might have taken shelter here with the assistance of IM's sleeper cell members before the blasts.

Police also questioned Mohammed Arifuddin, an activist of Darsgah-e-Jihad-o-Shahadat (DJS). According to police sources, Arifuddin and Ghouri had planted a bomb in Dilsukhnagar vegetable market in February 2000, which failed to explode and was later defused. (According to police, DJS has been a training ground for militants in the past. Many of its members had developed links with foreign terrorist organisations and carried out attacks in Hyderabad and elsewhere. police sources also said since the founder of DJS, Shaikh Mahboob Ali, died in 2011 and its strength and appeal have shrunk.)

Following Ghouri's death in an encounter with the police later in 2000, Arifuddin went to Saudi Arabia and returned in 2011. On his return to Hyderabad, he was arrested and remanded in judicial custody. Arif is out on bail and lives in his house in Saidabad. Investigators have so far questioned Arif only about his recent movements in the city.

Six more people were questioned. Some of them were arrested by the police in the 2007 Mecca masjid blast case but later acquitted. Until their acquittal, they spent long time in prison and had alleged police torture. "We are trying to find out if these people carried out the blasts to avenge their torture," said one SIT source.

Hyderabad police have formed six crack teams comprising Central Crime Station (CCS) sleuths. Each team headed by an officer of inspector rank is coordinating with the task force, counter-intelligence and NIA sleuths. Police said CCTV footage at Dilsukhnagar traffic junction showing the movement of some suspects is not clear enough to identify anyone. "Right now, we have only suspects," said one officer.

Cops questioned one Mohammed Abrar, 20, after he walked from Khaderbagh area in Malakpet with splinter wounds on his legs in Thursday's twin blasts. Abrar is a fourth year student at a local madrassa. According to sources, after wounding his legs in the explosion, Abrar walked for about two km away from the site towards his house. Just before he reached his house, his uncle picked him up on a motorcycle and shifted him to Sai Nursing home in Malakpet. Abram got nine stitches in his legs.

Hospital authorities called cops after Abram told them that he was hurt in an accident. When interrogated, Abrar told cops that he went to Dilsukhnagar to buy a watch. "But he had only Rs 150 on him. It all looks a bit suspicious and we are interrogating him," said a police source.